Eyeglass prescription orders are typically accomplished by filling out a form that requires completing an average minimum of 20 discrete blanks or fields and may have up to 75 fields or more depending on the special requirements of the order. The information contained in an eyeglass prescription order can be classified into the following several groups.
Two key items in the order are: the actual prescription—A patient's refractive powers; and
Patient information—Name, plus the measurements of the patient's eyes horizontally and vertically with respect to the patient's chosen frame.
The Frame—Since most frame companies sell directly to Eye Care Professionals (ECPs), the frame is frequently enclosed with the prescription (“Rx”) or sent later to an optical laboratory to process lenses for the frame. The frame must be described on the order, even if not supplied, because the laboratory must be able to identify customer frames if separated from the lenses in the lens production process.
Lens Product—There are hundreds of different types of lens styles, each one may come in different materials (glass, plastic, etc.), and each material may come in different colors, coatings, and power combinations. A frequent error in eyeglass prescription ordering is specifying an unavailable lens product. That is, each separate piece of information of the lens order is valid, but taken together describes a product or lens that either is not made or is not available from the laboratory that received the order.
Lens services—There are a variety of lab-supplied services that can be added to a lens product as described above. For example, labs often provide coatings for scratch resistance, anti-reflection, mirror-reflection, or colors. Order options should be available for selected lens products and compatible.
Another type of lens service provided by labs relates to edging processes (shaping for insertion into frames). A lens may be polished on the edge or ordered to a specific thickness. Again, errors in ordering occur because certain finishing features may not be available for the particular lens/frame combination selected.
All the various components of an eyeglass prescription order may indeed make sense when viewed independently, but there is an error rate of more than 20% associated with handling orders that result from incompatibility in the “inter-relationships” between the items on the order, thus making the order not manufacturable in the laboratory by the technician.
The need exists for a system that overcomes the above problems, as well as one that provides additional benefits. Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description.